SALT LAKE CITY — Parents across the country are growing concerned due to a shortage of medication for kids, and here in Utah, families have been feeling the impact of the shortage.
Jack is one and a half, and Andy is three. A month ago, both kids were sick with RSV.
“My kids, that’s the only way they can sleep through a fever is if they have medication to bring it down, to help their pain," said their mom, Zoey Bullen. “It felt awful. I just felt so helpless."
Bullen said finding basic medication was a struggle for weeks.
“I have a bottle of Tylenol here that took me about three weeks to find. And I go to the store about once a week, so it probably took me a good 5-6 trips to be able to find a bottle of Tylenol finally,” said Bullen.
And it’s not just kids' pain medication like Tylenol, Motrin, Ibuprofen, and generic brands that were missing from shelves, but antibiotics, too.
“The most common one is amoxicillin,” said Dr. Ellie Brownstein, a pediatrician and the president of the Utah chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Which we use probably the most as far as liquid medicines for kids.”
Certain pharmacies now have a limit on how many products you can get. CVS says online and in-store, you can only get two child pain medication products at a time, including Tylenol.
“One day, I actually had to give a woman at the store my bottle of Tylenol which happened to be the last one on the Walmart shelf because she had none at home and her kid was running a fever and I still had a half a bottle at home,” said Bullen.
One thing Brownstein recommends: don’t hoard medication, and discuss alternatives with your doctor if you can’t find the medicine you need.
“The most important thing with those medicines is to make sure you’re getting the right dosage,” she said. “If you have questions, I would call your provider and check.”
Especially with the current "triple-demic" with the flu, COVID-19 and RSV, Brownstein says a lot of kids are falling sick, so do what you can to prevent illness in your home.
“Right now, almost all of the kids in my daughter’s class are sick," Bullen said. "So I’m so grateful to be off school for the next two weeks just in the hopes of keeping my family healthy for right now."
